Worker's Rights

Archive for the ‘Worker’s Rights’ Category

A strike has been called by Mandate members at Dunnes Stores for Thursday 2 April. This is a strike nobody wants but workers have been left with no option as the management at Dunnes refuse to enter talks with the workforce and their union on the issue of decent contracts and living standards for up to 10,000 workers in Southern Ireland.

ZERO HOUR CONTRACTS

Over 80% of Dunnes workers are on temporary contracts. The policy of zero hour contracts is used widely at Dunnes. This type of contract gives no guarantee of working hours week to week and therefore take home pay changes each week. The workers have no financial security and cannot plan any long term aspect of their lives living under these conditions. The majority of Dunnes workers are women and these contracts are a form of control, making these women compliant to the wishes of management regardless of their own needs or those of their families. Dunnes Stores is huge company making over €400m in profit in Ireland every year while many of their workers are on Family Income Support because they cannot exist on the level of take home pay they receive. A contract guaranteeing a set level of hours is not an unreasonable demand.Read More

The following statement is from the Retired Aviation Staff Association regarding the shameful abandonment of Aer Lingus and DAA pensioners by the companies and the government parties.

AER LINGUS SHAREHOLDERS VOTED TO CUT PENSIONERS INCOMES BY SIX WEEKS FROM JANUARY 2015.
Aviation pensioners, whose average age is 73 years, will see their income cut by the equivalent of six weeks per year in 1 January 2015 following an Aer Lingus AGM today.
Institution shareholders, asset managers of pension funds, Government and shareholders voted at an EGM of Aer Lingus shareholders to cut pensioners pensions.
The EGM meeting voted in favour of paying compensation to non pensioners, active and deferred members, to mitigate against some of their potential loss in the future.
and no compensation to pensioners for their actual losses.
Following a meeting of pensioners at the Airport where they heard the Retired Staff Association’s actuary outline all the risks for them in these proposals pensioners staged a protest outside the Airport Radisson Hotel where the EGM was being held.
Aer Lingus shareholders were handed leaflets as they entered the hotel and a letter of protest was given to the Aer Lingus Chairman, Mr Colm Barrington.
RASA has stated that the fight continues and has set up a Pension Fighting Fund and requesting donations of €100.